The present invention relates generally to maintenance equipment used on railway track, and more specifically to such equipment used to plug tie holes on wooden railway track ties.
When reconditioning a railway track, it is customary to remove a selected one of the rails, together with the supporting tie plates and spikes, while retaining the other rail on the track for the use by, and support of, maintenance equipment, and to preserve the integrity and/or alignment of the track. Upon removal of the spikes, spike holes remain in the wooden ties and must be plugged to facilitate the relaying of a new rail, or portions of old rail as desired. Typically, the replacement rails and tie plates are fastened to the ties using the same holes. Thus, the holes must be properly plugged to accept and retain a new spike.
One approach to tie plugging has been to provide a supply of wooden plugs to a crew of workers, who then proceed to hammer the plugs into the holes. This is a time consuming and laborious process, and often the plugs are split or cracked during application, which further delays the process. Also, after time, it has been found that the wooden plugs do not satisfactorily retain the spikes, and the spikes work themselves loose when subject to the vibration and other forces generated by passing trains. Also, there is an ongoing movement in the railway maintenance industry to eliminate manual maintenance operations wherever possible.
Another solution to the tie-plugging problem has been to dispense an epoxy solution into the holes. This operation is commonly known as chemical tie plugging. Upon setting, the epoxy hardens and provides a new site for application of a spike. Chemical tie plugging has been accomplished using a movable rail maintenance platform holding at least one chemical reservoir, to which is connected at least one applicator gun. The platform may be towed or is self-propelled along the track.
Preferably two or more operators walk the track behind the platform and hold the applicator guns, which are suspended behind the platform. As the platform moves along the track, the operators follow behind and manually position the applicator guns over the holes and actuate the guns to dispense the epoxy, usually under pressure. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that the operators become fatigued after long stretches of track work of this type. Also, the rate of tie plugging is dependant upon the walking pace of the operators. In many situations, the tie plugging operation becomes a bottleneck for the other components of the railway maintenance gang.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,574 discloses a rail tie-plugging machine having a work location for a single operator, a complicated storage bin, a conveyor, a centrifugal feeder and a remotely actuated inserter gun. This device also includes a tie sensing mechanism connected to the inserter gun for automatically locating the gun over a desired position on the tie. Tie plugs must be sorted from bulk and positioned for transfer to an elongate feed tube connected to the inserter. This machine is configured for bulk handling and sequentially dispensing wooden tie plugs, which as described above, have several disadvantages.
Thus, there is a need for a rail tie plugging apparatus which dispenses epoxy solution for chemical plugging of ties, and provides for the operators to ride on the machine while inserting the solution. Also, there is a need for such a machine which allows for more rapid tie hole plugging while minimizing operator fatigue.
The above-listed objectives are met or exceeded by the present riding rail tie plugging apparatus, which features at least one and preferably two operator stations on a preferably self-propelled frame. The operators are positioned close to the ties for effective tie plugging, and, from the operator stations may also control the forward movement of the machine along the track during travel (nonworking) time. A chemical application apparatus is provided for dispensing chemical tie-plugging solution to at least one applicator gun. The construction and arrangement of the present machine is such that the operators may comfortably hold the applicator guns while plugging the holes. The apparatus also features a rotating operator seat enabling the operator to readily access ties to be plugged, regardless of the direction of travel, as well as controlling the movement of the apparatus along the track.
More specifically, the present invention provides a riding rail tie plugging apparatus for plugging spike holes in ties on a railroad track, including a frame being provided with a plurality of wheels for supporting the frame for movement upon the track. At least one reservoir is disposed in operational relationship to the frame for dispensing a supply of chemical tie-plugging solution. At least one applicator gun is in fluid communication with the at least one reservoir for dispensing the solution into the holes. At least one operator station is disposed on the frame in operational relationship to the track and to the corresponding applicator gun so that the at least one applicator gun is directly positionable by an operator disposed at the station for dispensing the solution from the at least one reservoir into selected ones of the holes.